National Republican., 1887-04-25

the grace OF God amid their aunoyances. /
diQnation of customers about the high prices
comes on the clerk. For instance; a great war
comes. The manufactures are closed. The
S up. < customer comes into store. Goods
have gone up SaISN MSw mSch Is that w0rh
Il sU hS y SaG a e saRs Does S5 the q ha
60 out to the manufacturers on the banks of
the Merrimac because they have closed up?
No. Does the Indignation go out toward tho
II comes on the clerk. He got up the war
He levied the taxes He puts up the rents
OF course, the clerk
that they see the parsimonious side Of human
nature. You talk about lies behind the
counter-there are just rs many lies before the
counter. Augustine speaks OF a man who ad-
yertised that he would, on a certain occasion,
tell the people what was In their hearts.
great crowd assembled, and he stepped to the
your hearts; To buy cheap - and and sell ii
dear" o, people of Brooklyn lay no.
aside your urbanity when you come into
:s Yourself to Be santlemaa Or
a lady. Remember that IL the prices are
high and your purse Is lean, that Is no fault OF
Ter amid those perplexities Of commercial life,
and such q one comes home all worn out, be
lenient, and know that the martyr at the stake
no more certainly needs the grace ofGod than
heated exasperations Of clerks life.
Then there are all the trials which come to
clerks from the treatment Of ineonsiderate
men in this city who have no moro regard
for. their clerks than they have for the
scales on which the sugars are. weighed. A
clerk Is no more than so much store furni-
ture. No consideration for their rights or their
interests. Not one word Of ENCOURAGEMENT
from sunrise TO sunset, nor from January to
December. But when anything goes WRONG
n counter
cover off-thunder showers Of scolding. Men
imperious, capricious. cranky toward their
cleIks-tnelr wnole manner as much as To saw,
IAN the interest have in you is to see what
can get out of YOU"
Then there are all the trials of incompetent
wages. Some Of you remember when the war
broke out and all merchandise went up. aud
merchants were made millionaircs In six
months by the simple rise In the value of
goods; Did the clerk set advantage of that
gathered in those times, over which the curse
of God has hung ever since. The cry of un.
paid men and women in those stores reached
has been around those establishments ever
since; rumbling in the carriage wheels fash.
ing in the chandeliers, glowing from the Grim.
son upholstery, laundering in the long roll Of
the ten pin alley. Such men may build up
palaces of merchandise heaven high, but after
awhile a disaster will come along, and Will
on that pillar, and throw itself forward until
down viii come the whole structure, crushing
the worshirpers as grapes are mashed in II
wine press.
III en- there are boys In establishments who
are rniped-in prosperous establishments -
ruined 10y their lack of compensation. In now
mnny prosperous stores 1t has been for the last
twenty years that boys were given just enough
money to learn them how to steal Some wer.
seized upon by the police. rha vast majority
Of instances were not known Tue head OF the
isn't here any more" A lad might better stirvs
to death on a blasted heath. than take one
cent from his employer. Noe b. IN that EN-
plOy er VINO unnecessarily puts u tAmptatoI IN
4 boys way There have been great estlb,
lishments In these ctles bnilliug marble
palaces, their owners dying worth millions
and millions and millions, who made vast
amount of their estOte, out of the blood, aud
muscle, HDa nerve Of haif-paid clerks Such
men as-wcl, will not mention any name.
But mean men who have gathered ~
were ground under their heel, Oh" say
such merchants, II you don't like II here
30 and get a better place" As much rs To
say, 1--WE got you in my grip and | mean to
what a contrast we see betweau such maa
and those Christian MERCHANTS of BrONklyn
and New YORK VINO to-day are sympathetic
with their clerks-when they pay The salary
acting in this way: "This salary that / give
you Is not all my interest In YOU. You are an
Immortal man; you are an Immortal wOmln;
everlasting welfarei 1 want you to under.
stand that, If am n little higher up
in this store, am beside you in Chris.ial 81 n
pathy." Go back forty years to Arthur Tap
Ien's store in New York-a man whose worst
enemies never questioned his honesty Every
morning, he brought all the clerks. aud the
accountants, and the weghers into r)l for
devotion. They sang; they prayed: they ex-
hor,ed. On Monday morning the clerks were
asked where they had attended Ch ir0h on the
previous day and what the sermons wera no mt,
IL must have sounded strangely, that voice
| OF praise along the streets where the deVOtee3
| OF M0mmon Were counting theirg1ldsn beads
| You say, Arthur Tappcn failed. Iel, he was
| unfortunate like great many good men, but